Harvest Time

I had an absolutely amazing tomato harvest this year.  I made pickles -green tomato relish actually - But the tomatoes were ripening so fast I gave bags of them away to neighbours, quartered and froze more for winter soups and stews and spagetti sauce, even threw some away that were less than perfect.  It was a tomato glut.  

Of course I picked one of the hottest days for my first attempt at pickles, but I got 9 jars of the stuff which actually tastes pretty good .

I'm enjoying watching the fields of squash being harvested, and grape picking is underway all around the valley.  Hopefully we'll get some good wines from the estate wineries this year.
 The apples are hanging on the trees - some of them are being picked, others are waiting patiently for their turn.
And would you just look at this Hibiscus?   The flowers were as big as dinner plates and a gorgeous red colour.

The praying mantis took up residence on the side of the house and then worked his silly way behind the screen.  He had to be rescued and transfered to a tree branch but before that operation, I just had to take his green picture.  He was pretty impressive.

Summer knitting stayed simple as was keeping with the weather and my mood, but I did start my winter sweater - actually started it three times but I think I'm on a roll now and almost up to the yoke.  pictures will follow.

And company - lots of it - rolled in and out, which was nice and spurred me on to try out a few Oliver restaurants.  The valley is under rain today but still mild. 
And that's the story from here